Archive for March, 2009

Television ratings for the National Hockey League continue at an unsustainable low. Last week’s Flyers/Penguins game drew a laughable 0,8 share. That was no fluke. A 0.8 rating is what the last three NHL games on NBC have drawn. Last year an NHL game actually drew the lowest ratings of any network program ever televised in the history of this country.

In fact, if you take away the novelty factor of the outdoor “Winter Classic” game, only one hockey game in the last three years has ever gotten a 1.0 share. That means the NHL can virtually never attract only 1% of the people in this country to their propduct. (By comparison NHL ratings are about 1/4 th of the WNBA’s.)

That makes hockey not just the lowest rated sport in television history, but the lowest rated PROGRAMMING. Ever.

Tiger Woods, playing in his third golf tournament since coming back from reconstructive knee surgery, won the Arnold Palmer invitational on Sunday. It was Woods’ first victory on the PGA tour since tearing his ACL and suffering two fractures in his leg. Woods won the U.S.Open last June despite those injuries.

During this week’s victory, Woods came back from five strokes down to defeat Sean O’Hair.

The young Dominican infielder who was at the center of the scandal that got Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden fired may not be allowed to play baseball in the U.S. this year. Two years ago, the Nationals signed 16-year-old shortstop Esmailyn Gonzalez to a club record $1.4 million bonus.

It turned out that Gonalez was not only NOT 16-years-old (he was closer to 21) but he wasn’t even named Gonzalez. His real name was Carlos Daniel Alvarez Lugo. The Gonzalez (Alvarez) signing also triggered an FBI investigation following rumors of kickbacks. That investigation eventually ensnared Bowden and his assistant Jose Rijo. It was Rijo who originally suggested that the club sign Gonzalez.

Now, Alvarez has been denied a visa to work in America so far this year. Worse, Nationals president and interim GM Stan Kasten says the shortstop’s visa difficulties may be so great that he won’t be allowed into the country all year.

How good was Saturday’s Elite Eight game between Pittsburgh and Villanova?

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports called the game “better than sex with triplets” as Nova beat Pitt 78-76 to move into the Final Four. Connecticut also advanced to the Final Four by beating Missouri 82-75, giving the Big East two winners on Saturday.

Probably the two biggest soccer names in the history of the world are Brazilian World Cup star Pele and Argentina’s Maradona whose scoring led his country to the World Cup in 1986. Now the two are engaged in one of the most epic feuds in the history of sports.

Last week Pele blasted his country’s national soccer team. He criticized star Brazilian players Ronaldo and Robinho both of whom have been accused of using drugs. Pele also took a shot at Maradona (now Argentina’s coach) saying he shouldn’t be looked up to because of his storied history of drug abuse.

This weekend Maradona shot back. He claimed , at a press conference, that Pele himself was a poor role model because he had lost his virginity to man.